Printing-form section.



J-. s. DUNCAN. PRINTING FORM SECTION. MPLICATION FILED D EC.3I, I915.

Patented Nov. 7, 1916 UNITED snares P JOSEPH S. DUNCAN, OF CHICAGO,ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO ADDRESSOGRAPH COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ACORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

PRINTINGPFORM SECTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. "5, 1916.

Application filedDecember 31, 1915. Serial No. 69,571. v

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH S. DUNCAN, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Form Sections,of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to printing form sections adapted. for employmentas the units of a sectional printing form, such as disclosed in myPatent No. 1,054,284, dated February 25, 1913, and presents certain important improvements upon the prlnt ng form section disclosed in myPatent No. 1,054,285 of the same date.

The type are stamped upon the metal plate and this involves a stretchingof the metal which is considerable under all condi-- tions butespecially so when lower and up per case characters are produced withletter and line spacing to imitate typewritten work. To obtain the bestresults it is essential to provide a plate of sufficient strength andstiffness to hold its general shape'and stand the necessary handling towhich it is subjected in the character stamping operation and insubsequent prlnting operations, and this plate must also be of such anature that the characters can be rapidly stamped up thereon with aclear and distinct printing face, preferably in letter and line spacingcorresponding to that of the ordinary typewriter, without unnecessarilyor injuriously stretching the metal, so as to provide a strong andsubstantial printing device which can be used repeatedly and which willalways produce a clear and d s tinct impression in imitation oftypewrit- In practice it has been found that while the form sectionillustrated in my Patent No. 1,054,285 may be used with entirelysatisfactory results in many cases there are times when it is somewhatdifficult to produce a line of printing characters with their faces inthe proper printing plane because of the tendency of the metal to failto stretch properly to a final set during the stamping operation. Thisis due to the presence of the retaining flange 6 which extends at aright angleto the body of the section from end to end along the edgethereof as shown in Patent No. 1,054,285. To accommodate this flangewhile the adjacent line of type characters is being stamped it has beennecessary to cut away the shoulder adjacent the face of the punch whichis used for producing a character so that a line of characters may bestamped up close to the flange, whereby when a plurality of formsections are assembled, as shown in my Patent No. 1,054,284, there willbe the same line spacing between the sections as there is between thelines of each section.

In Figure 81 have shown how the punch disclosed in my Patent No.1,048,461, dated December 24, 1912, has been cut away to accommodate theflange 6 shown in my Patent No. 1,054,285, and in Fig. 9 I have shownthe punch as it appears in said patent and was intended for use and isnow used with the present invention.

As a result of cutting away the shoulder 'of the punches to accommodatethe flanges while stamping the adjacent line of type characters there isnot sufficient support for the plate at the upper portion of any line oftype being stamped and not sufficient clamping action of the punch anddieupon the section at this portion, and: hence the metal does notstretch and set properly, but on the contrary there is a'tendency tocontract at the upper edge of the line of type. That is to say, thepunch and die do not fill out properly the lower portion of the typedue, as I believe, to the lack of support and nnperfect clamping actionheretofore referred to and this causes the type characters to tilt, sotospeak, to a more or less extent and otherwise fail to present aprinting surface which will produce a clear and distinct impression. Forthese reasons the lower portions of each line of type will often printheavy while the'upper portions and holding the section thereon in thesame manner as does the continuous flange, and which will not interferewith the character stamping devices or necessitate cutting away theshoulder of the punches.

A further object of my invention is to provide sufficient metal at theupper edge of the section to enable said edge to be firmly gripped bythe clamping portions of the cooperating punch and die during thestamping operation so that proper stretching of he metal to form thedesired character is assured, thus avoiding possibility of a partialcontraction of the metal and consequent deformation of the characterafter the punching operation due to its elasticity and failure tostretch to a final set.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating a preferred embodiment of theinvention Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a form section embodying myinvention and before the type characters have been stamped thereon; Fig.2 is a perspective view of a completed form section with type charactersthereon and the flangesremoved, sufficient type characters being shownto illustrate the purpose of the invention; Figs. 3 and 4 are end viewsof Figs. 1 and 2, respectively; Fig. 5 is a sectional view of a form bedhaving a plurality of the form sections arranged thereon in properjuxtaposition and in printing position; Fig. 6 illustrates the manner inwhich the form section is held by the jaws of the graphotype or othersimilar machine during the stamping operation; Fig. 7 shows one meanswhereby the flanges may be broken off Fig. 8 is a detail sectional Viewshowing how the punch has been cut away in practice to accommodate thedown-turned retaining flange of the section; Fig. 9 is a detailsectional view similar to Fig. 8 and showing that with my presentinvention the punch need not be cut away as illustrated in Fig. 8.

The blank printing form section 10 is made of sheet metal of suchcomposition as will permit the type characters 11 to be stamped upthereon in letter and line spacing to correspond with that of ordinarytype writing. Instead of providing the section with a down-turned flange6 (Fig. 8), (extending throughout the length of the section, asdisclosed in my Patent No. 1,054,285) I provide clown-turned retaininglugs 12 on one edge of the section, one adjacent each end of the sectionand located opposite the end margins of the section 10 beyond thatportion 10 which. receives the printing characters. I also provide thesection with an outwardly projecting flange 13 located between the lugs12 and of suflicient width to enable that edge of the section to befirmly gripped by the clamping portions of the cooperating punch 14 anddie 15 (Fig. 9) during the stamping operation so that proper stretchingof the metal to form the desired character is assured. This flange 13supplies a sufficiency of metal in proper place and position to enablethe punch and die to produce characters with proper printing facesclosely adjacent to the edge to which the flange 13 is integrallyconnected and voids the tendency of the metal at this edge of thesection to contract after stretching, or not to fully stretch, as sometimes happens when the flange is turned down and the punch is cut out at16, as shown in Fig. 8. In other words, it has been discovered that toobtain the proper stretching and even set of the type in each line andin all the lines it is desirable, in commercial work, to clamp thesection at the top of the line as well as at the bottom of the linewhich can not be accomplished with the down-turned flange and cut-outpunch, as shown in Fig. 8, but can be accomplished'with the outstandingflange and shoulder punch, shownin Fig. 9. The section is also providedon its opposite edge with a flange 17 to be engaged by the jaws 18 ofthe graphotype or other machine in which the type characters are stampedon the section, as shown in Fig. 6, and after the type characters havebeen stamped on the sectionboth of the flanges 13 and 17 are {broken offby any suitable means, such as the grooved member 19 (Fig. 7). Tofacilitate the removal of the flanges 13 and 17 the section may beweakened by score lines 20 and intermediate score lines defining theline spacing may be provided. on the section to facilitate bending thesection transversely when it is to be applied on a circular bed.

It will be readily observed that the lugs 12 are suflicient forretaining the section in place on the bed 20, as disclosed in my PatentNo. 1,054,284, and that they are not located opposite that portion ofthe plate upon which the printing characters are stamped and hence arenever positioned opposite a punch and die during the operation ofstamping printing characters on the plate and, therefore, do not'require that the punch be cutaway as has been formerly done to enabletype characters to be stamped up close to the flange edge of thesection. Nhile these retaining lugs are suflicient for the purpose theyalso enable the intermediate flange 13 to be provided in the plane ofthe section to insure a proper stretching and set of the metal duringthe stamping operation and the formation of type characters of uniformlyclear and distinct printing faces in a single plane throughout theprinting section, as hereinbefore pointed out. These results are much tobe desired in this class of work because the intention is to imitatetypewritten letters and it will be readily understood that theperfection of imitation is more important in letters than in a mereaddress.

I claim:

1. A printing form section having a down-turned lug on one edge adjacenteach end thereof and type characters struck up from the body of thesection closely adjacent the edge thereof between said lugs.

2. A blank printing form section having down-turned lugs on one edgeadjacent the ends thereof and a flange extending out wardly from saidedge between saidlugs.

3. A blank printing form section having a flange extending outwardlyfrom one edge thereof and of less length than said edge.

4. A blank printing form section having a flange projecting outwardlyfrom one edge thereof, the ends of said flange being spaced from theends of the section.

5. A blank printing form section having a character portion andflanges'at opposite edges of the section abutting the character portion,the section being weakened between each flange .and the characterportion to permit the flanges being readily broken off and one of saidflanges being of less length than the section.

6. A blank printing form section having a character portion, a flangeprojecting outwardly from one edge of the section, downturned lugs onthe other edge of the section adjacent the ends thereof, and anoutwardly projecting flange on the latter edge of the section betweenthe lugs.

JOSEPH S. DUNCAN.

\Vitnesses:

WM. 0. BELT, \V. T. VVESTERBERG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

